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[Aerie]

Any suggestions on better or more cost-effective parts?

Core:

Case: RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case With 500W Power Supply ($89.99)

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LE LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard ($129.99)

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K ($219.99)

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL ($47.99)
(Can double up on this.)

GPU: SAPPHIRE 11180-00 Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card  ($109.99)
(Can double up on this, or get Geforce 550 ti or Radeon 7770.)

HDD: Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ($99.99)
(Can double up on this for RAID 0.)

CPU Fan: ZALMAN CNPS9500A-LED 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler ($44.99)

Subtotal: $742.93

Optional:

Monitor: ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms Full HD Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ Speakers 300 cd/m2 20000 :1 (ASCR) ($169.99)

SSD: Mushkin Enhanced Chronos MKNSSDCR120GB 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) ($104.99)
(Put operating systems on this, ? ? ?, profit)

Keyboard: Saitek Eclipse II Illuminated Keyboard ($50.99)
(I'm a sucker for glowy things!)

Mouse: GIGABYTE GM-M7700 Noble Black 3+3 Buttons 4 Directional Scrolling 2.4GHz Wireless Laser 1600 dpi Mouse for Notebook ($19.99)
(I know it's a notebook mouse, but I really like laptop mice because I have small hands + they're lightweight.)

[gimlet]

Raidmax used to have an *awful* reputation for power supplies - whether they got better in the last few years I dunno, I personally buy mainly Seasonic power supplies, or if something is on a hot sale and gets a good review on jonnyguru, like the NZXT HALE series I picked up a couple of.

Do you live in a city near a Microcenter?  They have *awesome* in-store-only deals for cpu+mobos.

[Tellemurius]

AMD 7770 would be a better graphics card for only 40 bucks more if you want 1080p gaming.
That motherboard is a piece of shit, its been giving me lots of damn problems for my dual boot and drives :/  find a ASUS board.
HDD is good but in the future see if you can get a dedicated OS drive that way you don't get boned whenever windows decides to have its shits en giggles.

[Aerie]

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[Aerie]

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[Tellemurius]

lol i didnt say amd 7770 was the top 1080 gaming, its techinically breaking that barrier on the low end but it gives you the option to go that high, plus its a generation higher than 550ti which pretty much sucked when it came out (but hey whatever works for you)

The motherboard still has issues with multiple drives, i dunno if it was a bad flash or my powersupply sucking (raidmax by the way) or the damn sata controllers are stupid. Try to keep your number of drives low. I really wish i did got a ASUS board when i first bought this. For the hard drive thing its not a issue of a hard drive fail its the issue of windows being semi-retarded.

as for that powersupply it should be good but just be very careful, integrated stuff isn't ever the best stuff. And you read the first page of reviews theres 6 complaints about the psu, 4 of them it fried.

Also microcenter can get you at least a 20-30 percent price drop than compared to newegg.

[Aerie]

lol i didnt say amd 7770 was the top 1080 gaming, its techinically breaking that barrier on the low end but it gives you the option to go that high, plus its a generation higher than 550ti which pretty much sucked when it came out (but hey whatever works for you)

Again, I found a 6850 for $109.99.
Would that work better than a 7770?

[Tellemurius]

that pretty much matchs up with the 7770 little bit faster for tessellation, what would you even need the graphics card for? (specific game)

[Aerie]

what would you even need the graphics card for? (specific game)

Firefall, Champions Online, The Secret World, Skyrim, GTA5, games like that. I don't plan to run mega amounts of anti-aliasing (2x is fine for me at 1680x1050) and I can probably do without SSAO. I just want to be able to run games at 30 FPS or more.

Most of my gaming is done in the 20-30 FPS range, which is tolerable for me (especially for MMORPGs). It's only when it gets down below 15 FPS is when I start having big problems.

that pretty much matchs up with the 7770 little bit faster for tessellation

I read that the 7770 is 128-bit while the 6850 is 256-bit, which makes for loads better performance. My only concern is that the 6850 might not fit in that case, and, being refurbished, I might get some lemons.

[Tellemurius]

the bandwidth only really matters when you start pushing higher resolutions. for 1680 you can definitely do fine then with that 550ti for say high settings for skyrim (you can hit ultra by turning off MSAA and just leave FXAA on which looks fine for me, texture packs be much more helpful) though i have no idea if it will do fine for gta4 or 5 when that comes out. Im just trying to help you future-proof your stuff so it would last longer than say 4 years.

[Aerie]

the bandwidth only really matters when you start pushing higher resolutions. for 1680 you can definitely do fine then with that 550ti for say high settings for skyrim (you can hit ultra by turning off MSAA and just leave FXAA on which looks fine for me, texture packs be much more helpful) though i have no idea if it will do fine for gta4 or 5 when that comes out. Im just trying to help you future-proof your stuff so it would last longer than say 4 years.

Right now, my rig is a Pentium 3ghz dualcore, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, and a Geforce 8800. It's over 6 years old, but it actually does surprisingly well on any game that doesn't require boatloads of RAM. Crysis 2, Black Ops 2 and Skyrim run swimmingly on it at default settings; APB:R not so much.

Given the current setup I have lined out for my new PC, I'd expect it to last at least until 2018, but judging by Moore's law, that may be a tall order.

[Tellemurius]

oh gawds a 8800, anything is a definite boost over that

yea i don't trust that motherboard model to last longer, im switching mine as soon as ivy-bridge E comes out and give my old build to my brother with no assumption that it would work.

[Aerie]

oh gawds a 8800, anything is a definite boost over that

yea i don't trust that motherboard model to last longer, im switching mine as soon as ivy-bridge E comes out and give my old build to my brother with no assumption that it would work.

What do you think of the updated specs? What motherboard would you recommend?

I chose a 600GB 10000 RPM over a 1 TB 7200 RPM. Twice the price, but I've heard amazing things about the WD Raptor drives (almost as fast as a SSD?)

[Knight of Fools]

If you're going for i5 series processors, I've heard a lot of good things about the i5-2500k. It's only $20 more than the one you're looking at, and the base specs aren't anything to get too excited about, but it's better at keeping cool, and it's also one of the best processors on the market for overclocking (if you're into that sort of thing). I've heard you can get it up to 4.5 GHz without going to crazy, 5 GHz if you get an awesome cooler. You wouldn't need another CPU for a good while.

I'd recommend an Nvidia GPU, though. They're more expensive, but they tend to run into fewer problems with video games because they're so widely supported.

Also, SSD have gone a long way since they first came out. They're just as reliable as Disk Drives, and a lot faster.

[Aerie]

I'd recommend an Nvidia GPU, though. They're more expensive, but they tend to run into fewer problems with video games because they're so widely supported.

I wanted a 550 ti, but the 6850 performs WAY better for the same price. What would you recommend for under $150?

Also, how high do you think I could overclock the 2500k with that copper CPU heatsink I linked?